This invention relates to communication systems; and more particularly, it relates to multipoint-to-point CDMA communication systems.
As used herein, the term "multipoint-to-point" refers to a communication system in which multiple transmitting stations, which are located at respective points, simultaneously send separate data blocks to a single receiving station which is located at one other point. That is, a first data block is sent by a first transmitting station, a second data block is sent by a second transmitting station, etc.; and, any number of these data blocks can be sent at the same time.
One way to operate such a system is to have each transmitting station send its data as an amplitude modulated signal in its own wireless channel which differs in frequency for each transmitting station. However, if the total number of transmitting stations in the communication system is large, then a corresponding large number of separate frequency bands is required. Alternatively, each transmitting station can send its data over a separate optical fiber to the receiving station. However, when the receiving station is remotely located from the transmitting stations, too much connecting optical fiber is required.
By comparison, with a multipoint-to-point CDMA communication system, all of the transmitting stations send their data in either a single wireless channel or a single optical fiber. By the term "CDMA" is herein meant "Code Division Multiple Access." In a CDMA system, each transmitting station encodes the data that it sends with a respective spreading code which is unique to that station. Then, the encoded data from all the transmitting stations is sent simultaneously on a single wireless channel/optical fiber in one frequency band to the receiving station.
In the receiving station, the data from any one particular transmitting station is recovered by exclusive-oring the composite CDMA signal with the same spreading code which was used to encode the data. One prior art CDMA receiving station is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,836 by Rushforth, et al., entitled "Method and Apparatus for Decoding Multiple Bit Sequences That Are Transmitted Simultaneously in a Single Channel". Also, another CDMA receiving station is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,173 by Short, et al., entitled "Decoder for Added Asynchronous Bit Sequences". Both of these patents are assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In the prior art, each transmitting station can have a first-in-first-out data buffer (FIFO data buffer) which temporarily holds the data that is to be transmitted. With a FIFO data buffer, the data that is to be transmitted is written into the buffer from an external source at one bit rate, while simultaneously, data is read from the buffer and transmitted to the receiving station at a different bit rate. Consequently, if the rate at which data is written into the buffer exceeds the rate at which data is read from the buffer during a long time period, then an overload condition can occur wherein the storage capacity of the data buffer is exceeded.
Also, in the prior art, the number of stations which actually transmit CDMA data at any one time instant can vary greatly. For example, suppose that the CDMA communication system includes 100 different transmitting stations. In that case, the number of transmitting stations which actually transit CDMA data at the same time instant can vary from 1 to 100. Thus, when each transmitting station sends its data at a fixed bit rate, then a dilemma occurs. If the bit rate of each transmitting station is set high, the total bit rate capacity of the CDMA network can be exceeded whenever a large numbered stations are actually transmitting. But if the bit rate of each transmitting station is set low, then a buffer overload can frequently occur.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved multipoint-to-point communication system in which the above drawbacks are overcome.